Intercultural Communications Case Study Worksheet

I’m working on a communications report and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

you will analyze a case study of a conflict at a workplace. It will outline the people involved along with the assumed student role. While the case study is fictional, it is based on real-life considerations and writing/communication tasks that we could face in the workforce.

To prepare for writing the final project, you will first analyze the fictional case study and then find a similar real-world case study to analyze. Search for a real-world situation where a misunderstanding or conflict due to cultural differences affected a company’s reputation, product, or service. When searching, a situation that also has examples of a press release and company apology will be helpful to you.

Once you have found a suitable example case, you will complete the proposal form.

All the mandatry instructions and Proposal form are attached below.

Research Proposal Form – Intercultural Communications
Student Name: ___________________________________
1. Title of historic case study: ___________________________________
2. Summary of events (at least 250 words): ___________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. Annotated APA Bibliography for at least two sources on the case study:
A. ___________________________________
B. ___________________________________
C. ___________________________________
4. Are these primary or secondary sources? ___________________________________
5. What are the similarities to the fictional case study of PingMe?
______________________________________________________________________
6. What are the differences to the fictional case study of PingMe?:
______________________________________________________________________
7. Name the different (sub)cultures interacting in your historic case study:
______________________________________________________________________
8. Do you think your historic case study had a satisfactory ending? Why or why not?:
______________________________________________________________________
9. Do you think you will approach the situation in a similar manner to the historic example? Why
or why not?:
_____________________________________________________________________
10. Any final things to note?
______________________________________________________________________
Final Project Case Study Conflict Scenario – Intercultural Communication
PingMe is a social media app company that distributes videos amongst its users, similar to
Snapchat and TikTok. In an effort to reduce bullying and hate speech online, the app has
recently rewritten its content use guidelines and have employed additional measures to sift
through certain tags on videos that often get abuse, sometimes deleting the videos and/or
otherwise making them harder to locate online.
The company’s main office is in Beijing, China, where the founder Li Zhang is from. The
company is small and consists of no more than ten regular employees based in China and
some regular contract workers employed on a case-by-case basis. While it was the office in
China that developed the new content guidelines together, it was a hired team of contractors
who undertook the implementation of these guidelines in the app itself. Most of these
contractors are based all over the world.
These new content guidelines were done in a good faith effort to make the online space for
those using the app better. However, one of the side effects of the algorithm used to implement
the content guidelines has been an incidental flagging and removing of videos which contain
LGBTQ people. Most of these videos have been harmless–they were not targets of abuse and
did not contain hate speech–but they have been incidentally removed or made difficult to find
online, which has now sparked outrage among PingMe’s users in the US accusing the company
of homophobia. When the founder, Zhang’s, Twitter page is also examined by a US-based user,
they find numerous old tweets where Zhang has spoken negatively towards a ‘fairy’ in a gym
and several other tweets where he quotes song lyrics that contain the word ‘faggot’ or otherwise
negative imagery towards the LGBTQ community. This sparks more outrage among PingMe’s
US users; Western news media picks up the story; and soon the new content guidelines seem
to be a deliberate attempt to silence the LGBTQ community’s participation on the app. Li Zhang
remains silent on the issue, choosing to delete his Twitter rather than respond to accusations
directly. After hiring a new set of contract workers to fix the algorithm’s errors in the
implementation of the guidelines, he reaches out to a Public Relations firm based in San
Francisco to help recover from this conflict.
You are the team leader at the San Francisco PR firm called Better Solutions. Though you are
not part of the LGBTQ community, numerous people on your staff are and several have outright
refused to take this case based on the public perception so far. You decide that you will work it
alone and have several long meetings with Zhang over Zoom to discuss solutions. You realize
that while Zhang’s old Twitter posts are negative and hurtful, he is deeply apologetic for his past
statements, especially as he now understands that his Canadian cousin and two of his
coworkers in Beijing are part of the LGBTQ community. He wants to make amends but feels as
if it will be impossible, especially as some people in the Beijing office believe the algorithm did
the right thing, while some no longer feel safe at work. He also fears the loss of his company or
his country’s support, due to the censorship that already exists towards LGBTQ people within
his current culture, and how his company’s US stockholders are responding to his treatment in
the media.
Student task:​ Zhang asks for you, as his PR leader, to help him write a message to his
employees at PingMe. The problem with the app’s algorithm has been fixed, but office morale is
not good and many people seem divided as to who is at fault in this matter. Whatever message
you help Zhang write should be in his own voice and contain an action plan for the employees’
next steps. It is up to you to decide what the best next course of action is and how to implement
it.
Zhang also asks for your help constructing a press release. This should also be in his own
voice, but the exact form of the press release takes can be up to you. It can also be multiple
press releases, for different countries/cultures, if you think this is the best approach.
Finally, Zhang asks for your help constructing an apology to those affected by this issue the
most. It is up for you to decide who is the target of this apology and how it will be delivered.
Once again, this must be in Zhang’s voice. This can also be multiple apologies if you believe
this to be the best option.
Be sure to also fill in the reflective questionnaire on this final project when you hand in your final
documents. See the rubric for full grading criteria.